he
guide was pointing so confidently. "I'd know that rock among a
thousand. I'll never forget it, either. And yes, your sheep must be
lying below us right now."

"I think the same, fellows," asserted Smithy, who was beginning to
feel that he ought to give his opinion of things after this, since he
was now an actual _boni fide_ hunter, and had even secured one of the
most wary of all wild animals in the whole West.

"But why don't I see it, then?" demanded Step Hen, always very
stubborn, and needing to be shown.

"Ye see," the guide explained, "the face of the mountain backs in some,
in a general way. That tells the story. The only thing that bothers me
is, if I had ought to let ye try and get down thar, so's to shove the
sheep off, and land it at the bottom; or make the riffle myself."

"Oh! I wouldn't think of letting you try it," declared Step Hen,
quickly. "I'm young and spry, and used to climbing up cliffs and such
stunts, besides," he added as a clincher, "it's _my_ big horn, you
know."

Had either of the other boys backed him up, the chances were that Toby
Smathers might have refused to give his permission; for he knew that
there would naturally be considerable risk involved in such an
undertaking; but then both Davy and his comrade, Smithy, saw nothing
so very unusual in the proceeding, the one because he was not
accustomed to judging such things; and Davy on account of being such a
clever gymnast himself, always doing dangerous tricks, such as hanging
from a high limb of a tree by his toes, coming down the outside of a
tree by using the branches as a descending ladder, and all such "crazy
antics," as Giraffe called them.

"Here, somebody hold my gun," said Step Hen, with an air of resolution.

"You're going to be some keerful, I take it?" questioned the guide,
dubiously.

"Course I am; what d'ye take me for, Toby? Think I want to go to my
own funeral in a hurry? Not much. Oh! I c'n be careful, all right.
Don't you worry about me. And I want that big-horn worse than ever, I
do. Here goes, then."

He started down the face of the almost perpendicular precipice. There
were plenty of places where he could get a good foothold, and secure a
grip with his ready hands. The only danger seemed to be, as the guide
had warned him, in having some apparently secure rock suddenly give
way under his weight. He must watch out for that constantly, and never
take a fresh step unless he was sure he could maintain his hol